Richard Justice is known for making opinions that people don’t agree with. He riles fan bases up, makes everyone think he dislikes their particular team just because he pokes fun at them, all while drawing more and more hits to the Chronicle’s website and readers to the paper.
He’s also doing his job very, very well. As the Chronicle’s resident sports columnist, it’s his job to create these public debates. He’s supposed to put barroom arguments into print and take a side. Most journalists don’t pick sides, instead, just splitting the middle and talking about what happened.
I bring all this up because Justice makes some very solid points about the Aggies talk with the SEC. He’s possibly going to get some Aggies angry with his words, but he’s absolutely correct. If A&M talks about going to the SEC this time and doesn’t, they’ll lose all credibility with the other members of the Big 12 and will never be able to get anything in the future.
He also shows just why he’s got more talent in his pinky than I have in my whole body when he drops the part about U of H officials thinking A&M has been their biggest roadblock to getting into the Big 12. That comes from years and years of talking with people, getting a sense of things and not for any article or reason other than to tuck that up and wait for it to become useful.
As he says, A&M probably will be successful in the SEC and the financial rewards won’t be markedly greater. But, given what’s going on in the Big 12 with A&M talking about SECeding, the financial ramifications for staying might be just as dire.